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Jenny Higgins - Kurt is incredibly responsive, efficient, and professional. Thank you!
John Rogerson - I found Kurt Baker to be professional and courteous during the entire mortgage process. I would feel comfortable referring Kurt to a family member or friend.
Stephanie & Robert Coulombe -This was our first home buying experience, everyone told us how tedious the mortgage process can be. We were pleasantly surprised how easy AMIC made this process for us. They understood this was our first mortgage experience and encouraged us to ask as many questions as we needed to. They explained EVERYTHING to us! Follow up calls and personal attention was GREAT! They really made us feel comfortable about our first huge investment. We would definitely recommend AMIC to anyone!
Steve Melillo - I've used AMIC on several occasions and they have always been timely, efficient and professional. I would use them again and again as their performance has always been exceptional.
John & Christine Moses - I think you guys do a great job of keeping clients informed on the happenings of the market; what the rates are; what you can expect to happen, etc.. The loan processors at AMIC are reasonable, caring and most important, knowledgable. It's their knowledge that comes through the mortgage process. I'd recommend them to anyone, and have!
Paul Rotondi - Very professional and courteous. I have used AMIC in the past for investment property and I am extremely happy with the service. Would definitely recommend to other people in need of loan or refi!
Annette Gaeta - I would highly recommend your services and look forward to future transactions. Another smooth and fine process made easy when in the hands of Alternative Mortgage professionals - Total comfort at closing table, no hidden or last minute charges.
Rhinold Ponder - They provided excellent service and offered comfort during a trying time.
Susan Anderson - In my 5 years of investing in real estate, I have dealt with other mortgage brokers. Until Now, I have not found one that does everything they say they will do to help you get approved. I would recommend AMIC and their staff to anyone seeking a pleasurable experience in obtaining a mortgage.
Peter Cino, Jr. - ... fantastic help to me. She was always accessable and able to answer all of my questions promptly and correctly. Alternative Mortgage made this normally nightmarish procedure much easier to deal with. I always felt that AMIC was my ally in this process, not an opponent.
Walter Quackenbush - Being an attorney I have dealt with many lenders both professionally and on personal matters. This, by far, was my best experience.
NAHB, NAR Agree, Homes Never More Affordable - 3 hours ago Posted To: MND NewsWireFor the second time in a week a national housing trade organization has shown that purchasing a home is now within the reach of a record number of Americans. On Tuesday the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) published its affordability index indicating the purchasing power of American households had broken through 200 on its index for the first time in its history. Today the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and Wells Fargo released their Housing Opportunity Index (HOI) which showed that 77.5 percent of all new and existing homes sold in the first quarter of 2012 were affordable to families earning the national median income. This is up from 75.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011. While NAR used a national median income of just under $61,000 the one used by the NAHB...(read more)Forward this article via email: Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.MBS MID-DAY: More Gains On Philly Fed Miss - 3 hours ago Posted To: MBS CommentaryMBS Live : MBS Morning Market Summary The main market-mover of the morning was the release of the Philadelphia Fed Survey, the chief component of which fell from 8.5 last month to -5.8 today. This happens occasionally with regional manufacturing reports and particularly, we're reminded of the August Philly Fed Index that fell to -22 from a +6.2 in July. Although that instance constituted a bigger discrepancy, today's is arguably as much of a surprise considering the recent relative stability of the data (or even "uptrend" with the exception of last month's minor pull-back). Amazingly, it kicked off the biggest hour of volume of the week by a small margin over y'day's hour following the Greece/ECB news. MBS hit another all time high albeit by a small margin and 10yr yields now trade under 1...(read more)Forward this article via email: Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.The CFPB already has how many employees? And LO's wonder, "Could mortgage rates really go lower?" - 4 hours ago Posted To: Pipeline PressAccenture Credit Services announced that, "Low interest rates, less competition, more regulation and tighter credit standards have pushed the time it takes the biggest mortgage lenders to refinance a mortgage loan from 45 days a year ago to more than 70 days now." Underwriters, who in the past could underwrite 6-8 files a day, now do 2-3 - and they've turned into auditors instead of underwriters . And the borrower, of course, is the one who pays the cost of the longer time frames and the higher overhead. But refinancing cures all evils, right? Wrong: "The number of FHA-insured home loans entering foreclosure jumped in March after half the mortgages it modified to ease repayment terms were in default again a year or more later." More on that HERE . Speaking of loans heading south, to complicate...(read more)Forward this article via email: Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.The Day Ahead: Calendar Lightens Up Before Data-Less Friday - 6 hours ago Posted To: MBS CommentaryIf the calendar of upcoming events and y'day's volume are any indication, it's possible that Wednesday was the climactic final scene before the intermission. Volume ramped up steadily on the first three days of the week, hitting it's best levels since mid-March. 10yr Treasuries hit their best levels since October, stocks their lowest since January, and MBS hit all-time highs yet again (and took down a big chunk of originator production in the process). All "that" seemed to come to a head with today's FOMC minutes and obligatory Greek headline(s). On the surface, tomorrow looks much calmer by comparison. Apart from the standard weekly Jobless Claims, forecast at 365k vs last week's 367k (not really on our radar as a big market mover at the moment), there's really only the Philly Fed index at...(read more)Forward this article via email: Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.Judicial States Continue to Skew Foreclosure Statistics - 22 hours ago Posted To: MND NewsWireThere were substantial improvements in delinquency rates during the first quarter of 2012 according to the National Delinquency Survey for the period released this morning by the Mortgage Bankers Association. At a conference call for media accompanying the release, Jay Brinkmann, MBA's Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of Research and Education said that the combined percentage of loans in foreclosure or at least one payment past due was 11.33 percent, a 120 basis point (bp) decrease from last quarter and 98 from one year ago. This was the lowest that this measure has been since 2008. This improvement was driven by a 62bp decrease in the rate of loans that were 30 days or more delinquent. Brinkmann said that the first quarter generally experiences a decline in 30-day delinquencies for...(read more)Forward this article via email: Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.MBS RECAP: Another Logical Day Of Record Highs - 22 hours ago Posted To: MBS CommentaryMBS Live : MBS Afternoon Market Summary We characterized yesterday as "logical and well contained" with the benefit of some hindsight. While today's session wasn't "well contained," it was rather logical in that it went where you'd expect it to go given the events. Merkel surprisingly supportive of Greece remaining in the Euro-zone? Bond markets selling = logical. ECB wires saying certain MoPo operation with certain Greek banks is on hold? Bond markets bouncing back = logical. FOMC Minutes from a meeting that took place BEFORE the recent round of Euro-drama ramped up showing no incrementally hawkish viewpoints? Bond markets inferring Fed must be that much more willing to stimulate given recent events = logical. All in all it led MBS to all-time highs yet again, and bond markets were generally...(read more)Forward this article via email: Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.Mortgage Rates Steady At All-Time Lows Thanks To Europe And The Fed - 23 hours ago Posted To: Mortgage Rate WatchMortgage Rates are steady to slightly improved today following as Europe's fiscal woes continue providing downward pressure on US interest rates. The forces at work keeping rates low were joined today by "minutes" from the most recent FOMC meeting. All told, several notable lenders are offering their all-time lowest interest rates while others remain close. Markets actually got off to a shaky start as far as rates were concerned. Had it not been for the European headlines and the FOMC Minutes , we'd likely be looking at slightly higher rates today. Mortgage-backed-securities (aka "MBS," the most direct influence on mortgage rates) and US Treasuries began the day in weaker territory until news that the European Central Bank had ceased it's normal interactions with several Greek banks, and the...(read more)Forward this article via email: Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.Concerns Grow Over Freddie/Fannie Price Dislocations - 1 day ago Posted To: Secondary MarketsOne of the themes discussed at the MBA’s recent conference in New York was the idea of “a merger” of the mortgage-backed securities issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The FHFA itself now lists one of its goals to "build a single securitization platform" in the Strategic Plan for 2013-2017 this morning. MBA President David Stevens recently addressed the concept, expressing concerns about the growing price and economic disparity between Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac securities. Before continuing, it will be helpful to discuss the differences between the Fannie and Freddie securitization programs. Since it takes time for cash to be passed from servicers to the GSEs to and then to investors, both types of securities (as well as Ginnie Maes) pay investors after a “delay.” This is fairly simple in concept. All securities have a “record day” which determines who is the “holder of record” at any point in time. For agency MBS, the record day is always the 30th of the month. The actual cash (principal and interest) owed to the investor is then remitted to investors in the following month. Fannie Mae always pays bondholders on the 25th day of the month following the record date; Freddie Golds pay on the 15th day of the following month. (Freddie Mac pools originally paid on the 15th day of the second month after the record date. In the late 80s/early 90s Freddie Mac created the Gold program, which moved the payment date up a month for fixed-rate pools; note that Freddie ARMs are still issued under the “green” program and have the old payment structure and delay.) Because time has value, the shorter delay for Gold pools means that they should trade at a higher price than Fannies, assuming they are priced to the same yield and prepayment speed. At current levels, the constant-yield price of 30-year Gold 3.5s is roughly 2+ ticks higher than Fannie 3.5s. (The economic value of the delay difference is a function of a number of factors, including the pool’s coupon and yield.)Despite the shorter payment delay, however, Gold pools have almost always traded at a concession to Fannies rather than at a premium. The differential is largely due to the liquidity difference between the two agencies’ securities. According to the MBA, daily trading volumes for Fannie MBS are 20 times larger than those for Freddie Golds. The relatively impaired liquidity of Golds implies wider bid/ask spreads, making trading in the securities more expensive; it also means that prices are more apt to be impacted by heavy trading volumes and/or increases in market volatility. As a result, it is significantly more expensive for investors and issuers to trade in Golds, meaning that they need to trade at a concession to Fannies in order to compensate for their reduced liquidity and higher trading costs. The price differential between the two programs is also growing, as illustrated by the following chart showing the pricing difference between Freddie Mac Gold and Fannie Mae 3.5s over the last few years. The 60-day moving average of the concession has widened from 2-3 ticks in the fall of 2011 to its current level of 9-10 ticks; as of the close on Monday 5/14 the spread was 9/32s. Keep in mind that this shows only the actual price difference; the economic difference (i.e., including the delay difference) is roughly another 2+ ticks wider over time.There is an unfortunate circularity to the price/liquidity issue. The lower prices paid for Gold securities means that originators pricing to Gold execution are at a significant disadvantage relative to those using Fannies as their benchmarks; in order to offer comparable rates, they must factor lower profit margins into their pricing. As a result, fewer originators create Gold securities, which results in reduced float for the securities, which serves to further impair liquidity. Interestingly, Stevens’ comments included one questionable statement. He was quoted following the speech as saying “…(A)nd the taxpayer subsidizes the lender for the difference between the two. Taxpayers will be saved hundreds of millions of dollars because the execution will no longer be subsidized." In the current market, with comparable g-fees for Fannie and Freddie, the cost of the price concession and inefficient execution is borne by the originators creating Freddie Mac pools. However, without action to either combine the securities of Fannie and Freddie or somehow eliminate the price concession, the price and liquidity disparity is likely to grow worse, and issuance of Freddie pools will continue to shrink. The true cost to taxpayers will come in the future; over a longer horizon, it’s easy to imagine that the government will be forced to continue supporting an increasingly uncompetitive enterprise....(read more)Forward this article via email: Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it."Mega-Lenders" Lagging Smaller Ones in Processing Time - 1 day ago Posted To: MND NewsWireSmall and medium-sized lenders and community banks appear to be closing loans for refinancing faster than their "mega-lender" counterparts according to the Origination Insight Report for April released Wednesday by Ellie Mae. The company, which samples loan applications that are processed through its loan management software, reported that, "While the average refinance going through our platform took five days longer in April than in March, it still only took 47 days." Ellie Mae contrasted this to a report from The Wall Street Journal which recently said that the largest retail lenders are now quoting timelines as long as 60 to 90 days for refinancing. Insight , which covers approximately 20 percent of U.S. loan originations, reported that the share of refinance applications actually dropped...(read more)Forward this article via email: Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.Stats Point to a Decent Housing Market; Nationstar and ResCap; Europe Continues to Move Rates - 1 day ago Posted To: Pipeline PressObama played golf with Joe Biden last weekend. They were kicked off the course because every time Obama yelled "Fore", Biden screamed - "More Years!" But the mortgage industry is more concerned with another Biden: Joe's son Beau, who is Delaware's Attorney General. Officials wonder why banks aren't excited about residential lending, yet the industry faces Biden's comments that the states' attorneys general need to make it clear that the recent $25 billion settlement with five major banks is the beginning not the end of their enforcement actions . "This crisis, which was man made," he said, "cost the economy trillions and I can't really find anyone who has been held accountable." And apparently he and his ilk will their attention to mortgage securities: "whether or not there were false securities...(read more)Forward this article via email: Send a copy of this story to someone you know that may want to read it.
